Watch for updated information!

Week 1 Introductions
to each other, the lab tools & online journalism. 

Review PC and Macintosh basics 
or Mac for Windows users.

Looking under the hood: Peeking at HTML code and writing it...
Using TextEdit, Notepad, NoteTab etc.

Books and other resources available online and at the library, including the library's Safari Tech Books online .

Web Concepts: Servers, clients, plain text, hypertext, code & tags, open standards, open source.
News Concepts: Backpack journalism, multimedia, citizen journalism, hypertext and "other" journalism.

For next week:

Get a UNIX Web server account from OIT by next Thursday, if you don't have one already, at http://oit.utk.edu/accounts.html

Get a Jump Drive or Flash Drive (Lexar, SanDisk, etc.; 64MB minimum) to bring to the next class and download free texts. 

Start reading online news sites. Register for the New York Times, Washington Post and News Sentinel pages so that you can open stories quickly. Choose an easy to remember password.

Take notes on your news reading for your Jan. 23 weblog entry evaluating online news stories and applying what you learn from the textbook.

Jan. 16

Jan. 18

Week 2 Computers, Networks & the Web

• Discuss evaluating and learning from news websites.
• Online news characteristics. (See textbook.)
• How the Web started: Using text editors and HTML tags... and by borrowing code.
• LAB TASKS:
• Build a page with just these tags: H, P, BR, STRONG, UL, LI, A...
• HTML history & future
• Demo of W3schools TryIt feature.
• UT's Unix Website Manager
• Free tools: TextWrangler for Macs and Notetab for Windows; Nvu for both.
• Set up work folders & flash drives. Review the differences between "files" and "folders." (Files=Documents; Folders=Directories)
• Learn what "default.html" means.
• Check calendars for software classes at the Studio and OIT workshops , as well as OIT's computer-based training. Suggested OIT (date first offered): Photoshop (Jan. 30), basic HTML (Jan 23), CSS (Jan. 31), DreamweaverI (Feb5). Studio: iWeb, Photoshop.

Read this week:
Foust Ch. 1-3

Begin exploring these HTML tutorials from home or the library:

W3Schools

Philip Greenspun's one-page guide at MIT  

Sitepoint Beginners Guide

Web Style Guide

HTML Help.com

A short, simple HTML tag "cheat sheet" --with an intriguing first instruction. We'll avoid the "frames" and "forms" sections. Hmm. Looks familiar.

Bring a flash drive and have your UNIX account ready Jan.18

Story assignment, MS Word draft due Jan. 25:
Announce or preview a campus event. (See assignment sheet)

Where to find an event to write about? Read bulletin boards. Call or visit the Web site, office and officers of two or three of these UT student organizations until you find one with some plans for the semester. If student organizations are boring, try any of the university's schools, colleges and departments.

Note: There was an error on an early version of that assignment sheet... Check to be sure it's gone by now: All link anchor tags need quote marks, but they were left out of the assignment's example. This is right:
<a href="http://my.com">Me</a>

Jan. 23

Jan. 25

Week 3 Home Pages, Blogs & News

• File transfer: Fugu, FTP & SSH
• Post your "weblog," "home page" and "JEM222 Class Page" online.
• Add links between the three pages.
• Full site plans you'll be following over the coming weeks are here: JEM222 Student Site Structure. (Revised, printed copies will be available in class Jan. 25.)
• Blogs: Why yours is not the "My Cats Look Like the Gilmore Girls" type of blog. (To get that reference, follow the link and watch the video.)

fyi:

• More tips for online journalists at the j-learning home page.
• Journalism and writing tutorials: newsu.org

Foust Ch. 3-5

Visit W3Schools tutorials & self-administered quizzes on HTML and CSS.

Unix tips.

Your First Web Pages, by Ian Lloyd, has a clear intro to HTML versions and "head" section data.

Webmonkey HTML Reference Pages

WDG HTML HELP

Another nice HTML tutor, this one from a news website editor at
j-learning.org

Weblog entries due Tuesday

STORY 1 Draft Due Thursday
on a campus "coming event"

Reminder: Don't just rewrite a press release. Talk to someone and quote a human voice saying interesting things about the event.

Write a first draft of the story before class; bring it to lab (Jan.25) as a Word (or HTML) document on a flash drive, or e-mail it to yourself. We'll work on it further in class. If you fail to bring in a story (a) your grade will suffer and (b) you may be given something less enjoyable to shovel.

STORY 2 & 3 PLANNING IDEAS:
1. Find your own local angle on a national story by attending a local meeting or speech, or interviewing a local expert. STORY 2 Deadline Feb. 13, which doesn't mean it has to be about Presidents' Day or Valentine's Day... but if all else fails, find an angle about one of those "timely" events.
2. Take (or audit) one of the Studio or OIT short courses next week (see links in last week's left column) and "cover" it as a story -- interview the instructor, summarize the material covered, find out who the students are and why they are taking it (quote only the most interesting ones).

Jan. 30

Feb. 1

Week 4 Reality Check Week

Tuesday Special

• Visit TNJN.com online
• Guest Speaker(s)
• Writing Story Summaries (survey of styles by Jim Stovall)

• Questions about text & Tuesday quiz: Quiz postponed to Thursday
  
  
• Catching up...
• Goal1: Decide on second stories.
• Goal2: Post online three folders and at least five Webpages (three default.html pages -- one per folder, plus one or more weblog pages and one story page).
• Goal3: Add tables to control page width, find photos, links and lists where useful.
  
• See sample codes for tables

Can't do file transfers from home? If you have a Windows computer, "SSH SecureShell Client" is a free-for-education program

See: SSH Info

Fugu is a free SSH program for OS-X

Having trouble with quotation marks when you write a story with Word? See my PDF page about Special Characters.

DEADLINES:

• Story 1 revisions by Thursday, Feb 1, extended to Feb. 6. adding summaries, headlines, links and other Web enhancements. Begin at home; finish in class.
  
  
• Continue with weekly blog entries.
  
  
• Quiz next Thursday on the first four chapters of Foust's textbook and the JEM222 Site Structure handout.

Interviews for Story 2 should be lined up; background research should be done.

Feb.6

Feb. 8

Week 5 Online Newswriting

• Tuesday: Post first story; try tables (see Feb.1), write story proposals or progress reports; quiz preview. Test your links.

• Thursday quiz
• Using NVu to make tables
• Add screen snapshots to your weblog. (Go to the Help system on a Mac or PC and search for "picture of screen.")
• Use Photoshop to crop and compress images.
• Update on Assignment Status

Now that you've used NVu in the lab, download a copy for your own Windows or Macintosh computer: http://nvu.com

Read Foust 6-7

Quiz Thursday Feb. 8 on first four chapters of Foust textbook and the JEM222 Site Structure handout.

Continue with weekly blog entries.

• Trouble with your UT account or home computer? See UT Web account help:

HelpDesk 974-9900 and http://oit.utk.edu/helpdesk/section/ Student_Computer_Support/

Story 2 first drafts should be taking shape

Story 3 Brainstorming: What next? Deadline March 6

Week 5-6 Extra Links, Tools & Tips

• Are online image services a faster and cheaper way to crop and optimize photos than Photoshop? Try snipshot (yes, "snip") and cellsea.

• The default page for your JEM222 folder should link to sites you visit frequently (see suggestions at right), tools you use and your story and weblog folders. It should tell a little about yourself, the course, etc. The default pages in the Weblogs and Stories folders can wait until you have blog entries and stories online; then the default pages should list Weblog topics and story headlines & summaries. The "look" of all of your pages can be revised (and made more consistent) as you learn more about design issues and techniques. See Site Structure
  
  
• Examine blog writing styles: Drudge, Winer, Bubba, Insta, Katie, Mike, Jim, Jack, Rocketboom, Jay, Poynter, Lost Remote
• ... and blogging tools, including iWeb for the Macintosh (see the class schedule at the Studio), and Web-based programs like Blogger, Drupal and WordPress.

Home Downloads: NVu (Windows or Mac)
SSH (Windows)
Fugu (Mac)

See Bob's list of Website-building software tools, including NVu and Dreamweaver tutorials

Setting standards:
1. Read about the Online News Association and its awards. (Try a Google search to find other online news awards, or for "online journalism" and words like "multimedia" and "convergence")

2. For more basic page evaluations: GoodPage/BadPage

Read Foust 6-7

(as mentioned in weekend e-mail lecture)

Continue with weekly blog entries.

Story 2 first drafts should be taking shape

Story 3 brainstorming: What next? Deadline March 6

Reading tips: For weblog-entry ideas and story ideas, put some of these on your JEM222 page and be a regular reader:

• Bob's Other Journalism Blog
• E-Media Tidbits (Poynter)
• PressThink (Jay Rosen)
• The Online Journalism Review
• The Center for Citizen Media blog
• KnoxViews
  
• UT PR Department's press releases
• The PR office's experts guide.
• News.google.com (search for "Knoxville" etc.)
• News sites, organizations and magazines listed in the right column of Bob's home page or
• The link section of Bob's UT page.
• Bob's De.licio.us bookmarks and De.licio.us bookmarks for jem222

Feb. 13

Feb. 15

Week 6 Online Newswriting 2

• Test your links.
  Try uploading with TextWrangler
  
• Story and Weblog status reports & deadline update.
• Discuss print, Broadcast & Online News Writing Styles
  
• What's "Microcontent"?
• Headlines & Summaries
• Photo captions: Be careful with the facts!

How is the Web different? What does it mean to our culture? Ask an anthropologist who has been studying those questions -- and answers them on YouTube?

Read Foust 6-7

Read how The New York Times puts print and Web together

Read Bob's own Online News Writing Styles essay...
and a short list of guidelines

Continue with weekly blog entries.

Story 2 was due Feb. 13, complete with links, images or other Web "extras"

Story 3 proposals on Feb. 15

TIP: Settings for SSH connections:

• How do you connect to the server?
  (S)FTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)
• "What hostname or FTP address?"
  ftp://web.utk.edu (some programs may want an "ftp://" or "sftp://" at the beginning of the address)
• "What folder on the server...?"
  public_html/jem222/
• "What FTP login?" youremailname
• "FTP password?" Same one you use for e-mail
• Use Secure FTP (SFTP)
  -- check box for "yes"

Feb. 20

Week 7-1 Visual Web 1

• Review story 2
• Visual Storytelling
• Ex 1 |Ex 2 | Ex 3 | Ex 4
• Photoshop
• Pictures in your weblogs

• Do News Values Change Online?
• "Alternative" papers and "citizen journalism." You can finish this course and start your own "paper" or "broadcasting station."

Foust Ch. 8

Quiz 2 on Foust Ch. 5, 6, 7, 8 on Feb. 27

Continue with weekly blog entries.

Feb. 27

Mar. 1

Week 8 Visual Web 2

• Story "Packages"
• Web Graphics
• CSS (Style Sheets)
• Bob's Future of Journalism links

Quiz 2, Foust Ch. 5-8 Tuesday, Feb. 27

Mar. 6

Week 9 Reality Check

• Tuesday: cleanup, publish and print stories.
• Update weblogs for grading.
  
  
  
• Thursday: site updates, adding design consistency, navigation menus. Review each other's stories.

Foust Ch. 9

Review:

• JEM 222 Weblog expectations
• JEM222 Site Structure
  (PDF)

Story 3 due March 6, complete with links, Web "content" and "presentation" extras

Story 4 brainstorming. If time is getting tight, plan to put more energy into an in-depth story 5. Make story 4 a quick one -- an enhanced Web version of a story you wrote for another class, or a rewrite of a recent UT press release with Web enhancements. (Don't give yourself a "byline" for a rewrite job, but do give yourself a "producer" credit at the end of the story.)

Mar.20

Mar.22

Week 10

Read each other's stories and offer advice for clean-up editing.

Discuss story 4

Check Bob's Del.icio.us bookmarks for JEM222:
http://del.icio.us/bstepno/jem222

Next: Foust Ch. 10-11

Watch "Epic 2015" (8-minute Flash movie; see notes on link list)

Finish story 4 & 5 proposals.

Story 4 due April 5

Story 5 due April 19

Mar.27

Mar.29

Week 11 Web Production I

Bob's notes on online news writing

Design details, consistency & concept.

Adding more media to stories with YouTube and other free services.

Special Mar. 29-April3 assignment

Embedding video (or audio) in your Web pages: Bob's fireworks demo.
Read: Web Style Guide's multimedia chapter.
UC Berkeley Multimedia Reporting pages.

Older Web multimedia shown in class (or for browsing on your own):

• Black Hawk Down (author's notes)
• Vietnam 25th anniversary story from nytimes.com (Backup: johncaserta.com)
  
• My House, My Shack from sixbillion.org; photos, text and narration.

Apr.3

Apr.5

Week 12 Web Production II

Writing: Headlines, summaries, menus, link text.

Building group packages from from individual sites.

Additional readings to inspire weblog topics.

See Bob's weblog discussion of News Sentinel Knoxnews.com headlines on Oct.27 and Nov.3, including comments.

POSTPONED: Quiz 3 on Foust Ch. 9- end, Tuesday April 10

Apr.10

Apr.12

Week 13 Web Production III

Video tools:

• A/V tools favorites and a big list at Rocketboom.
• Video-format advice from UC Berkeley.

Story 5 proposals & progress

From weblog comments to research:

• Form: Poynter Institute Eyetrack Studies
• Content: Online Journalism & the War: International Comparison
• Organization: RTNDA TV-Web Case Studies

Quiz 3 on Foust Ch. 9- end, Tuesday April 10

Story 4 due April 10

Story 5 due April 19

Apr.17

Apr.19 

Week 14 Convergence & Careers

The colorful link on the right and last week's center column links are about academic and industry research into online news operations.

For more information about jobs in online news see LostRemote, OJR, ONA and JournalismJobs.com.

Tuesday: Quiz

Thursday: Roadmap to final stories

Follow-up on Internet defamation, Times/Bloomburg story; EFF press release; EFF on bloggers and the law & legal FAQ.

Read: More on multimedia, convergence, and your news site evaluations.

More about
"frames" and their shortcomings ("inline frames" are a slight improvement)

Next week: DEMOS and feedback

Story 5 Due April 19

Links from class:

BigLickU

Pulitzer shortcuts (especially LAT Altered Oceans)

Apr.24

Apr.26

Week 15 Web Production IV

• summarize stories
• write headlines
• add bylines & bio links
• group pages
• link to each other
• edit for the Web
• Discuss the items on the right, including the last story and "About" page assignment.

Review these:

• JEM 222 Site Structure (PDF)
• JEM 222 Weblog expectations
• Master list of class handouts & pages

Revisions

"About" page due at last class:
In it, summarize and review your whole site, using links where appropriate. Discuss what could enhance your stories or weblog -- if more learning time, tools or technology had been available. Provide links to sources of more information about such features. The "about" page can be an expanded version of your JEM222/default.html page or a separate page linked to it.